Bell revealed a new multimedia ad campaign, aligned with the Beijing Olympics and centering on its new corporate brand, in an exclusive presentation in downtown Toronto. The new brand was conceived by Zak Mroueh’s Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto’s Leo Burnett, Montreal’s Lg2 and Toronto’s Cossette, and replaces the long-running Frank and Gordon campaign.

‘The new plan is to retake Bell’s position as Canada’s leader in communication,’ says Rick Seifeddine, SVP of brands at Bell. ‘The four agencies are collectively re-launching Bell with momentum in a big, bold way, hopefully new to Canada.’

The brand’s logo will maintain Bell’s traditional blue, but incorporate a new look. Advertising relates to the concept of ‘better.’ New ad taglines such as ‘Today just got better’ send out a simple, more customer-oriented message. In an ad for HDTV PVRs, the tag may be ‘Recording just got better.’ For the Quebec market, there’s also a play on words tagline approach – ‘La vie est Bell,’ with the Bell logo substituted for the French word ‘belle.’

Advertising executions begin tomorrow at the Beijing Olympics (Bell is a longtime sponsor), pushing new products and services such as a new range of mobile smartphones, the Samsung Instinct touch-screen phone and an unlimited world long-distance plan for Bell home phone customers.

For the past week, Bell has been advertising in major markets with a teaser campaign featuring the letters ‘er’ in support of the tagline, along with portions of the Bell logo, or ‘Bell-ements.’ Also included are TV, radio, OOH, online and print ads featuring the big Bell logo.

George Cope, president and CEO of BCE and Bell, says, ‘It’s a customer-focused brand that directly supports the Bell team’s goal: to be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company.’

Some Bell businesses will also change their names in a simpler-is-better vein. Bell ExpressVu becomes Bell TV, for instance, and Bell Sympatico becomes Bell Internet.